Max Lucado Daily :Lavish Grace
Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Worry is falling short on faith. Impatience is falling short on kindness. The critical spirit falls short on love.
So, how often do you sin, hmm… in an hour? For the sake of discussion, let’s say ten times an hour. Ten sins an hour, times sixteen waking hours, times 365 days a year, times the average life span of 74 years. I’m rounding the total off to 4,300,000 sins per person! How do you plan to pay God for your 4.3 million sin increments? You’re swimming in an ocean of debt.
But God pardons the zillion sins of selfish humanity. He forgives sixty million sin-filled days. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by the grace of Jesus Christ.
From Great Day Every Day
Galatians 1
New International Version (NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle —sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — 2 and all the brothers and sisters[a] with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul Called by God
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas[b] and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 23:23-31
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
Dorian Gray
July 19, 2012 — by Dennis Fisher
For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of . . . all uncleanness. —Matthew 23:27
The Victorian novel The Picture of Dorian Gray illustrates how the person we project to others may be very different from who we are on the inside. After the youthful and handsome Dorian Gray had his portrait painted, he dreaded the prospect of growing old, and he wished the portrait would grow old in his place.
Soon he realized that his wish had been granted. The portrait, which mirrored his troubled soul, aged and became more hideous with each sin Dorian committed, while he himself remained youthful. His outward appearance did not match his corrupted heart.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for displaying a similar hypocrisy. Many of them took pride in showing off their spirituality in public. Yet on the inside, they were guilty of many secret sins. Because of this, Jesus compared them to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of . . . all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).
We are tempted to cultivate a false image for others to see. But God knows our hearts (1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 15:3). Through confession and prayerfully opening our hearts to God’s Word and the work of the Spirit, we can experience an inner goodness that is reflected in godly actions. Let God transform you from the inside out (2 Cor. 3:17-18).
Father, it’s easy to put up a front and hide
from the public what we are really like. We’re
grateful that we cannot hide from You. You
know us. Please change us inside and out.
Only Christ can transform us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 19, 2012
The Submission of the Believer
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am —John 13:13
Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. He never says, “You will submit to me.” No, He leaves us perfectly free to choose— so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. But once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that “You are worthy, O Lord . . .” (Revelation 4:11). It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one who is worthy. When I meet someone who is more holy than myself, and I don’t recognize his worthiness, nor obey his instructions for me, it is a sign of my own unworthiness being revealed. God teaches us by using these people who are a little better than we are; not better intellectually, but more holy. And He continues to do so until we willingly submit. Then the whole attitude of our life is one of obedience to Him.
If our Lord insisted on our obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him. Then He is easily Lord of our life, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The level of my growth in grace is revealed by the way I look at obedience. We should have a much higher view of the word obedience, rescuing it from the mire of the world. Obedience is only possible between people who are equals in their relationship to each other; like the relationship between father and son, not that between master and servant. Jesus showed this relationship by saying, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). “. . . though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The Son was obedient as our Redeemer, because He was the Son, not in order to become God’s Son.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
First, Breathe It Yourself - #6659
Thursday, July 19, 2012
If the flight attendant were ever to become incapacitated on a flight I'm on while she's giving those safety instructions, I think I'd be able to step right up and take over! I mean, I know the routine by heart after hearing it so many times over the years.
Of course those flight instructions are more interesting with the video they supply. I like the part where the little yellow oxygen mask drops down and they show you what to do if the cabin pressure suddenly goes down. I've noticed in the dramatization that the people are wonderfully calm. Have you ever noticed that? No one is screaming, no one's yelling, "We're going to crash!"
But no problem; they're calm as they quietly put on their masks. But that's good. And the video shows a mother putting the mask on herself first, and then reaching over and giving it to her little girl and affixing it to her mouth. Well, the instructions go like this, "If the cabin pressure drops, put the oxygen on your face first, and then even though you might want to take care of your child first, take care of yourself so you're strong enough to help them." To give a child breath, you first have to take a breath of your own.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "First, Breathe It Yourself."
I hear from a lot of parents something like this, "My son or daughter is having a serious problem, Ron. Could you help my child?" In essence they're saying, "Could you help me get the mask on them? They need some oxygen; they need some help, and I need to get that mask on them." You know, many times the child's weakness or problem turns out to be a mirror of the parents' weakness or problem.
Our word for today from the Word of God talks about family sins that are these ugly hand-me-downs that grandfathers have, then the father learns to have it, and then his son learns to act that way. Then there's hope. Listen, 1 Peter 1:18 - "You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers with the precious blood of Christ."
Empty ways of life have been passed from generation to generation. Every family has them, and those family sins continue from generation to generation. Maybe you see a harsh, critical tongue or spirit developing in them, and you hate it because you look in the mirror and you know you've got it. Maybe they've got an addictive personality or they've got a tendency to cheat on the truth, and it's the problem that frustrates you in yourself. And now it's mirrored in them.
The good news in this verse is the words, "You were redeemed." You can break that cycle; it doesn't have to be the way it's always been. But you've got to take the oxygen for yourself first. You've got to be redeemed from that empty way of life. You can't help your child with that problem until you have breathed the oxygen.
You need to turn Jesus Christ loose on that besetting sin; that family sin. Begin to win some daily victories. And if you lose one day, then just let it be one day. Make a daily rebound. And try acknowledging your struggle with that weakness to your family; ask for their prayers; let them know that you know you shouldn't be that way. Ask for their help. And then you can say, "You know, I think you may be struggling and having a hard time breathing in the same area I am, and it's probably because you learned it from me. Here, breathe what I'm breathing - the redeeming power of Jesus Christ."
Have you ever unleashed that power in your life? Jesus has the power to break the hold of every sin you've ever struggled with. Because it took His cross to break that power. And when He died on the cross, He paid the penalty for your sin, and He broke the power of that sin. And those who have experienced what the blood of Christ was shed to do, know what it is to experience this truth from Jesus: "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."
And then, liberated by Him, you can pass that freedom on to your son or daughter. Our website is all about beginning this redeeming relationship with Jesus. I hope you'll check it out today - YoursForLife.net.
The biggest single answer for your child's weakness is to let Christ transform that weakness in you. He has redeeming grace for your son, for your daughter. But first, breathe it yourself.